First, the set up. A new justice of the peace jumps the gun on his
appointment and performs five marriages before he has the authority
to do so. Several years later, the mistake is discovered, and they
notify the five couples by letter that they are not legally married.

Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen have a popular Mr. and Mrs. radio show,
but do not get along, and don't even speak to one another off the
air.

Marilyn Monroe competes in beauty pageants, while husband David
Wayne takes care of their baby and plays house husband. The fact
that they are not married makes her ineligible for the Mrs. America
pageant, which she already won the state title for, but makes her
eligible for the Miss America pageant, which is much more lucrative.

Eve Arden and husband Paul Douglas are settled into a rather boring
routine, but he fantasizes about his carefree bachelor days when he
gets the news.

Zsa Zsa Gabor want to divorce rich husband Louis Calhern and take
advantage of the community property laws.

Mitzi Gaynor is expecting her first child, and husband Eddie Bracken
is being shipped off for overseas duty. He is desperate to remarry
her before the boat leaves, so his baby won't be illegitimate.

In each of these early Marilyn films, her star quality was very much
in evidence, and clearly Marilyn had become a rising star by the
time this one came along. When she is on camera, she is the focus of attention, and she exudes a sense of sexiness and helplessness
that is irresistible. It wasn't until later that she began to
seriously study acting, but she was charismatic even without great
acting skills.

The light comedy/dramas of that era generally had a happy ending for
everyone, and this was no exception. For those not familiar
with the actresses named above, this is an incredibly star-studded
cast for its era. Unfortunately, I saw little humor, and it was my
least favorite of the Marilyn films of that 1951-52 era.

The meaning of the IMDb
score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics,
or a C- from our system.
Films rated below five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one
and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is.

My own
guideline: A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. C means it will only
appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover
appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but
will be considered excellent by genre fans, while
C- indicates that it we found it to
be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre. F means that the film is not only
unappealing across-the-board, but technically
inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for
fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is
recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C-
that often, because we like movies and we think that most of
them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know
that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below
C-.